In the past, strip conductors of a flat, tape-like conductor cable have been connected to a PCB by arranging the cable on the underside of the PCB, that is to say the side remote from the conductor tracks, and making use of a connector having individual conductor members which project through corresponding openings in the PCB and which are soldered to the conductor tracks The making of connections in this way has been very time-consuming, largely due to the number of individual soldering operations involved.
More recently, therefore, the need for such soldering has been avoided by arranging the cable on the same side of the PCB as the conductor tracks and making the electrical connections between the strip conductors and the conductor tracks by direct mechanical pressure. Most commonly this has been achieved by means of an intermediate member having spaced conductors projecting from opposite sides, one end of each conductor member engaging a strip connector of the cable and the other end engaging a corresponding conductor track on the PCB.
In some cases, however, this intermediate member has been dispensed with and the strip conductors and conductor tracks have been pressed into direct contact with one another. This has involved the use of a clamping device, usually formed with spaced projections registering with the strip conductors so as to concentrate the pressure in the region of the individual connections and the pressure has been obtained by securing the clamping device to the PCB. Such a device thus includes a member for engaging the cable across its width and means for applying pressure to the member to establish a pressure connection between the conductors of the cable and the respective conductor tracks. Although this has proved relatively satisfactory, the fact that the reaction to the pressure exerted is inevitably carried by local areas of the PCB has led to risk of distortion of the latter.